O Juletre
by Arendeller
Summary: A happy night before Christmas in Arendelle finds our heroes celebrating together. Note: Juletre is pronounced "Yoo-le Tree"


Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff were all together in the sitting room of Castle Arendelle. Chestnuts were roasting in the corner fireplace. The air was thick with the potpourri of juniper berries and a pot of glogg warming by the fireside

Looking down from the window one could see Olaf and Sven frolic in the snow, in the fading light of winter's early sunset.

Anna decorated the room with ornaments and garlands and hung stockings by the fire Elsa was sitting on the couch reading a first edition of "A Christmas Carol", and Kristoff was strumming his lute to the tune of "O Juletre".

Anna hummed along with him whilst she trimmed the Juletre in red and gold tinsel, blown glass ornaments, and tiny beeswax candles.

"It needs something more" Anna said as she stood back and looked at the tree.

Kristoff changed his tune to "Stille Nacht" and Elsa flipped a page in her book. Ebenezer Scrooge had just been visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. Elsa was enrapt, reading intently to capture the message of a holiday she had so long spent distant from her sister and family.

"How do you think it looks, Elsa?", Anna asked her.

Elsa was lost in her novel and didn't hear her. Scrooge was visiting his nephew's house and Elsa couldn't break her attention from the page, hoping to soak up whatever meaning it held for curmudgeons of poor circumstance like herself and poor Scrooge.

"Elsa, how do you think the Juletre looks?" Anna sat down next to her and asked her again.

Again Elsa failed to hear her sister. Anna laid down on the couch and shimmied her head into Elsa's lap.

"Elsa. Do you like the tree?" she asked again.

The Ghost of Christmas Present had just revealed to Scrooge the phantom children of Ignorance and Want; Elsa could not be broken from the spell so easily. Tired of competing for attention, Anna blew in her big sister Elsa's ear. Startled, Elsa threw the book out of her hands.

"Aaaah!", she screamed, and looked over at Anna who was holding her head in her hands.

"Yes... Anna?", Elsa asked her, still recovering from the surprise.

"Do you like the Juletre? I think it needs something bigger. Something that says "Snow Queen" Anna asked her as warm smile spread across her face.

"Anna, I told you to stop calling me that." Elsa said.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to upset the SNOW QUEEN! She might freeze my heart!" Anna laughed and mocked her with a sing-song tone for her distance.

Kristoff just looked on and kept playing his lute while his two favorite girls bickered. He thought about what songs he knew might fit this situation and began a lively rendition of "The Fox Is Sliding Over the Ice". Elsa recognized it and started laughing.

"There's the sister I was waiting for!" Anna said.

"It's beautiful, Anna. But you're right. It needs something personal" Elsa replied, looking back at her. She flicked her hands around themselves making an intricately shaped star of ice.

"Happy?" she asked Anna.

"Yes!" said Anna, and put it on top of the tree.

Anna beamed on at the now perfect Juletre. Elsa stood next to her and put her hand on Anna's shoulder.

"Now all we need is a snowstorm to keep it solid" Kristoff said as he rose from his stool to join them.

"That'll put out the candles!", Anna exclaimed.

"Don't worry, Anna, it doesn't" Elsa reassured her.

The icy, 16 pointed-pointed star stood perfect and pristine over the well-appointed festivity of the sitting room and catching the light from the fireplace twinkled along its crystal facets like the very star that had led the three wise men to the king in whose name they celebrated that very day.

"That's amazing, Elsa. Please tell me you can show me how to do that" Kristoff implored the Snow Queen.

"Maybe later. All this holiday cheer is getting me parched" Elsa said.

She sat down and warmed her back against the fire, stuck the ladle into the pot of glogg and served herself a steaming cup.

"That reminds me, you still haven't told me what you wanted for Christmas, Anna" Elsa continued.

"Should I tell her?" Anna said to Kristoff.

"Tell me what?" Elsa asked.

"What I want for Christmas, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, is for you to commission a new bedroom for the new Prince coming to live in the castle" Anna explained.

"A new prince? Anna, don't tell me you're still running around with strange men!" Elsa worriedly asked.

"No, just Kristoff. The new Prince is related to him, though" Anna coyishly replied.

"What are you talking about? Kristoff, you're related to a Prince? What kingdom is he from? When is he going to get here? This isn't something you can just spring on me." Elsa began worrying her head off.

"Elsa, Elsa, relax. The new prince won't be here for another *counting on her fingers* 8 months, and actually he's going to be the Prince of Arendelle" Anna said.

"Arendelle?" Elsa replied with a confused look.

Then as the realization slowly hit her Elsa's expression melted into one of joyous surprise, her eyes lifted and her mouth drooped open like an O. She leapt up from the fireside and threw her hands into the air.

"MY LITTLE SISTER IS GOING TO HAVE A PRINCE!" she yelled.

"We're sorry we didn't tell you sooner, but we were waiting for the right time" Kristoff said.

Elsa hopped around the room like she had just been given a new pair of snow boots and wanted to try them out.

"A prince! A prince!" she shouted before rushing over to her sister and hugging her around the shoulders.

"Oh, Anna I'm so happy for you" she said lowly into the nape of Anna's neck.

"And you too, Kristoff. Congratulations, Papa! This calls for a celebration!" Elsa cried out as made a small key of ice in her hand.

She unlocked the liquor cabinet on the sitting room wall and removed a bottle of blackberry schnapps and set it down on the table. Elsa conjured up three small glasses made of ice and poured the schnapps into them.

"A toast to the new prince of Arendelle!" she cried out, and the three toasted their good fortune.


End file.
